World box lacrosse championship beckons Paciejewski
For the third time in his career, Cole Paciejewski is going to be wearing Scottish flag on his lacrosse jersey.
He’s the only Prince George player entered in the world indoor lacrosse championship, a 20-team tournament which starts Thursday in Langley. Paciejewski will play for Scotland, the country where his father was born.
Unlike the previous two international field lacrosse tournaments the 26-year-old forest firefighter will be more in his element, playing box lacrosse in an indoor arena.
He says he won’t mind not having to chase down opponents on a field that’s 110 yards long and 60 yards wide.
By comparison, the 200-foot X 85-foot lacrosse floor in Langley will be like operating in a phone booth.
“It might be a little harder for some to get used to but I’ve been box since I was four years old and I have a good understanding of how to play there, that’s where I’m at my best,” said Paciejewski.
Paciejewski, the MVP in the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association in 2017, played all his minor lacrosse in his hometown, then went on a four-year scholarship to play U.S. college field lacrosse for NCAA Division 1 Pfeiffer University in North Carolina from 2011-2015.
Always a prolific scorer, Paciejewski was limited to only four or five regular season games with the RPR Mechanical/JR Construction Bandits. But the quiet fire season locally meant he was available for the PGSLA playoffs and in just three games he had four goals and four assists before the Bandits were eliminated in the semifinal round by the eventual-champion Westwood Sports Pub Devils.
Paciejewski hasn’t played a game since August but he keeps himself extremely fit and has been throwing the ball around at the Northern Sport Centre with one of his teammates to get ready for the tournament.
“Over the last month I’ve been able to get lots of practice in, I had my lacrosse stick in my hand every day,” he said.
Scotland was scheduled to scrimmage Tuesday against Australia and the team will have a few days to practice before their first game Thursday morning at 10:30 against Slovakia. Scotland plays Germany on Saturday, Mexico on Sunday and finishes off roundrobin play Monday, Sept. 23 against Czech Republic. He knows some of his 17 teammates from the previous two tournaments.
“There’s a few familiar faces but it’s definitely a more European roster than we’ve had in the past,” he said.
“If we win our pool we could see (tournament favourites Canada or the U.S.) in the playoff round. It’s a bit of dogfight to match up with them but if we do well in the round-robin we should have a opportunity to play them.”
Last summer in Netanya, Israel Paciejewski helped Scotland to a 11th-place finish at the 47-team Federation Internationale Lacrosse (FIL) world field lacrosse championship.
In 2016 he used his British passport to qualify for Scotland’s team at the European field lacrosse championship in Budapest, Hungary.
That team finished with a 4-4 record.
Paciejewski has played a few times at Langley Events Centre. That’s where he earned a spot on the provincial midget team back when he was a teenager. He also had a pro tryout there in 2016 with the National Lacrosse League’s Vancouver Stealth.
His parents, Richard and Maureen, are going to the tournament and he has large extended family living in the Lower Mainland who will help form the Team Scotland cheering section.